The production of motor vehicles comprises multiple vertical manufacturing and assembly steps for many of the assemblies or systems contained within a vehicle. Such vertical processing steps substantially increase the cost of producing the vehicle, especially since each part constructed, and the assembly of the parts manufactured into systems, may be accomplished remotely from the subsequent or final vehicle assembly operations. As a result, the more parts and more assembly required to present the assembly for the next or for final assembly into a motor vehicle under automated production conditions could substantially increase the cost of handling and the complexity of final production.
As an example, interior systems such as seating may need to satisfy numerous performance goals. This is particularly true of child seat restraint systems in which a child seat may be restrained by an anchorage system which is assembled to the vehicle chassis or the seating support within the motor vehicle. Not only must such systems restrain a child through various vehicle operating conditions, but such systems must often meet performance and structural standards such as the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards applicable throughout the industry to child seat restraint.
Previous attempts to reduce complexity of structures and processing in the development of seating systems are often related to the particular architecture of a seating or a vehicle structure. Changes in one system often do not provide motivations or suggestions that may be incorporated in others or may not provide cost reduction features in other systems. However, one market segment of seat construction utilizes an Isofix bar. Improvements by manufacturing techniques such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,131,693 B2, 6,983,526, and 7,484,800 require separate manufacturing, handling and delivery of tubular bars. These bars have been separately sourced from plants and processes outside the control of the suppliers who may attach latch wires to the tube in order to construct an Isofix bar or fabricate its incorporation with the seating mechanisms of various manufacturers and suppliers to the original equipment vehicle manufacturers. For example, other suppliers' improvements in seating anchorages are also subject to the independent manufacture, handling, adaption and delivery of tubing from others in the manufacture of improved child seat anchorages such as those in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,721,406 and 6,729,687.